Persona 4 - Book of Souls
by Team Megami
Summary: "The power of Grimoire Animus may be a valuable tool, but be ever mindful of the people around you... The truth sometimes hurts more than the lies." - Yuka Narukami hoped to escape her past life, to get a fresh start. Instead, she finds herself thrown back into the world of shadows, and this time... There may be no salvation. [Yuka X Rise]


Persona 4 – Book of Souls

Name: Persona 4 - Book of Souls  
Rating: M for Mature (Violence, Instances of Harsh Language, Religious Themes and Sexual Themes)  
Genres: Action/Adventure/Humour/Romance/Mystery

Author's Note: Hello, and welcome to my latest story! A while back, I was contacted by _AshCoveredWarrior _and he asked me if I wanted to take over the reins of one of his stories: _Persona 4 – The Alternity Paradigm_. He intended it to be a sequel to his Persona 3 novelisation: _Persona 3 – The Alternity Paradox._ He found difficulties writing it however and so came to me to see if I wanted to take a shot at it. Needless to say, I agreed. This ties into The Alternity Paradox but he has given me a lot of free reign to write pretty much what I want, with only a few conditions attached. What are these conditions? Well, you'll have to either pay really close attention, or read his awesome story to find out. Well, I've kept you long enough, on with the story!

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Prologue  
The First Page

(I'm in a nightmare. It has to be one; it's the only thing that can explain why we were even considering this.)

"_You have your life… And now you want your freedom too!?"_

"_It's your fault Nanako-chan's…!"_

(It was his fault… He's the reason why my sister is… No, Yuka, stay calm… I have to stay calm… Why can't I speak?)

"_12 o'clock…"_

"_The Midnight Channel."_

"_How!? The real one's right here, and we already beat his Shadow…"_

"_I failed. But it wasn't my fault. Besides, the law can't touch me anyway."_

(That voice that mocks us, saying that the law can't touch him… Is that what he truly thinks?)

"_Then… He wasn't deranged or anything… He knew what he was doing…!"_

"_To hell with the law… I will never forgive what you did!"_

"_Th-This… Please… Stop…"_

"_Huh? Stop what? We ain't even done anything yet… Or do you want us to do something? Something fitting for a bastard like you!"_

"_K-Kanji…"_

(I have to stop this. I HAVE to stop this! To even consider this… This is… C'mon, why am I not doing anything!?)

"_Do whatever you want. You hate me because the child died, don't you? I don't care either way. Living or dying makes no difference to me. But you… You're different. Heheh, you can't do such a thing. You wouldn't dare, right? Heheh…I'll continue 'saving' people… It's my mission!"_

"_Mission!?"_

"_My god…"_

"_P-Please… stop…"_

"_He wants us to stop. What should we do?"_

"_Wh-What do you mean…?"_

"_We can't let this bastard do whatever he pleases."_

(I have to say something! I open my mouth but no sounds come out. Is this fear… or am I so angry I can't think of what to say?)

"_Still… What are you going to do?"_

"_No way I'm going to walk out of here doing nothing…"_

"_I-I understand, but…"_

"_This must be a luxury suite. Most hospital wards don't have such large televisions. Why, with something like this in the room, this man can escape at any time… Although once he enters, he may find there's no way out."_

"_Wait a second, y-you don't mean… Are you serious?"_

(No, Naoto! This is what I was trying to avoid! There's something we're all missing here… C'mon, what is it!? Think!)

"_You just going to turn your back and walk away?"_

"_That's… But…"_

"_Wh-What's gotten into you guys!? This is crazy! How can we do something like that!?"_

"_Chie! Everyone… Listen to me. If we're going to do this… now is our only shot. We won't get a second chance. At this rate, he's going to get off the hook… And he'll go around 'saving' people again! You just heard what this bastard's really thinking! If that happens, it'll be just like Nanako-chan and Senpei… Who knows how many more innocent people will die this time? I can't let something like that go… Someone close to me died... Her killer can't be convicted… And now I'm going to let the same thing happen again? There's no way I can do that! It's just wrong, isn't it!?"_

"_B-But… Yosuke…"_

"_All we have to do is push him inside the TV… That's it. We do that one thing, and this is all over."_

"_J-Just… push him inside…?"_

(If we do that, we'll be worse than him! I want revenge as much as you, but this… This is wrong! Please… don't do this…)

"_If any of you want no part in this, just leave the room. I'm not gonna force you to stay. As for me, nothing could make me forgive this bastard… But before we do this, I want to hear what you think. What do you want to do… Leader?"_

(Rise… Please… help me. I don't know what to do… I can't…)

~Book of Souls~

(Huh…? A nightmare? Haven't had one of those in a while… Who were those people?)

I slowly opened my eyes as I awoke from my slumber. I was supposed to be on the train bound for Yasoinaba Station but I had found that I had awoken in an unfamiliar room, sitting on a wooden chair. From what I could see, it was tinted a velvet hue that gave the place a warm atmosphere, almost like a bar or dance hall. The counters, the glasses and bottles certainly helped with that as well. It was kinda like that bar in the city I used to live in… What was it called again? Ah, I'm sure I'll remember eventually. That isn't important for the moment.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." An old man's voice spoke out. I snapped to attention and tried to discern where the voice came from. The room I was in was a lot more confined than I originally thought; very narrow. Looking around some more, I saw a row of windows lining the sides. I took a peek outside and could barely see a thing; a thick layer of fog surrounding us. I also noticed that we were, in fact, moving forward.

(Am I in a limo…? Would certainly make sense, considering the size... What am I doing here?)

"It seems that we have a guest with an intriguing destiny." The old man spoke out again. I turned to look straight ahead and saw where the voice was coming from. He looked really… weird. The bit of white hair at the back of his head, the bulging bloodshot eyes and the… very, very long nose. Oh, he also wore a black suit, with white gloves and had a handkerchief in the front pocket; not particularly important, but it was just something I noticed. I was still trying to figure out exactly where I was at the moment.

(I've seen my fair share of weird stuff, but this certainly takes the gold.)

"Who are you?" I asked, trying to keep as stoic as possible. Better not to show emotion and let the enemy take advantage of that, I've always told myself. The old man spoke with the creepiest smile I've ever seen.

"My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance." He said, his hands clasped together and resting below his impossibly long nose, "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a '_contract'_ may enter… It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future."

I didn't understand a word he said. A room that existed between dream and reality? Trying to make sense out of it for the moment was a futile effort, so I decided to just go with it; perhaps it would make sense later, I thought to myself.

"…I'm Yuka- -" I started to say my name in return, but Igor interrupted me.

"There's no need to tell us who you are, Yuka Narukami." He said knowingly. I didn't let my surprise show, instead raising my eyebrow in confusion, "A previous guest spoke of you. He told us that you possess an interesting ability… Heheh, not quite unlike my assistant here." He pointed to the woman beside him. She had platinum blonde hair, pale skin and golden eyes. She wore entirely dark blue clothes, with matching high heels and had black and gold accessories adorn her clothing. She was, to be blunt, exceptionally beautiful. I had the feeling that I had seen someone like her before though, but dismissed it as just a coincidence.

"This is Margaret. She's a resident here, like myself." Igor explained. The woman called Margaret turned her head to look at me directly.

"My name is Margaret. I am here to accompany you on your journey." She told me. I relaxed a little, seeing how they don't seem to want to pick a fight, and focused on asking a _very_ important question.

"What am I doing here?" I asked, but like every mystery I seem to come across, I get no straight answers.

"That will be revealed to you in due time." Igor responded in that same almost raspy tone of voice, "Now then, why don't we take a look at your future?" With a snap of his fingers, a deck of cards appeared on the round table in front of him. With a wave of his hand, the cards separated, all of them face down. With the cards set in place, he asked a very simple question.

"Do you believe in fortune telling?"

"…Not particularly." I responded, tensing up a little as he continued to smile.

"Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different…" He let out a chuckle, "Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?"

Couldn't really argue with that; he did have a point. Igor flipped over the card closest to me and to his right and looked it over.

"Hmm… The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent… The card indicating the future beyond that is…" He flipped over the card on the opposite side, "The Moon, in the upright position. This card represents… hesitation, and mystery. Very interesting indeed." He looked up from the table and directly at me.

"It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you." He started to explain, "In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of sorts, after which you will return here. The coming year will be a turning point in your destiny… If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does that happen… But you already have the potential to light up the darkness, don't you?"

(How does he know about- -!?)

My thought process was interrupted by Margaret, who seemed to figure out what I was thinking.

"The power of Grimoire Animus may be a valuable tool, but be ever mindful of the people around you… The truth sometimes hurts more than the lies." She told me. She kept a straight face, making it difficult for me to discern the meaning from her words. Before I could respond, the room was slowly becoming dark. It took me a second to realise that it wasn't the room itself that was going dark; it was my eyes slowly closing that was causing that.

"Wait…"

As my words drifted in the air, the Velvet Room disappeared from my sight.

~Book of Souls~

(Ugh… That was a weird dream… How did those people know so much about me? Then again, it was a dream…)

I stood up after shaking myself awake and grabbed my bag from the railing above me, between the rest of my luggage, and opened it up. I looked inside at the only item contained within the bag.

(That book… I've carried it with me for so long and yet I don't know everything about it… I just hope I don't have to use this thing ever again.)

I zipped the bag back up and flung it over my shoulder. Taking a glance outside the window, I saw the bright and luscious countryside. The quiet town of Inaba was my next stop; a chance to get away from my past life, a chance to start fresh. I took my cell phone out of my pocket and read the last message I received from my uncle.

'_Meet us outside Yasoinaba Station at 4 P.M'_

(I've still got some time… Oh, it seems like we're getting close to arriving.)

"**Our next stop is Yasoinaba Station. Be sure to take any luggage before departing."**

(Well… Here goes nothing.)

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Author's Note: I was planning to release this tomorrow… But I thought I would give my readers a treat, just this once though. Don't say I'm not a kind author. I certainly hope I didn't disappoint. Like I said, it's always the prologues or the first chapters that's difficult, once I get those done; it's usually pretty straightforward from there. So how's that for a first chapter? Leave a review with your thoughts and expectations and I hope to see you for the next one.


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